Chicago Marathon Training’s Opening Day

Like most people, I divide the year up into seasons. There are tax seasons, duck hunting seasons, Christmas seasons, wedding seasons, football seasons, stone crab seasons, Some coincide, many overlap, but each hold their own special significance. To celebrate the seasons that matter most to me, I always like to commemorate opening days.

Opening days are special. No matter what season is commencing, opening days have a special sense of hope and excitement. It is the only time when the answer to the question, “How will this season turn out?” is always, “Perfect.”

The most popular opening day in my neighborhood, takes place annually on a cold, rainy day in April (or this year late March), when the Chicago Cubs take the field for the first time of the year. It is a very exiting day. Typically 40,000 fans do best fake cough on the phone to the boss in the morning, then don their best rain suits and parkas for an exciting day of Cubs baseball. The bars open at 6 AM, and all the sudden a sleepy little northside neighborhood comes alive after its five-month hibernation.

But this is not a story about baseball. Rather today is another equally exciting, but VERY different opening day in Chicago. Today is opening day in Chicago Marathon training.

The 2008 Chicago Marathon is October 12, and this year God has promised it won’t be so hot. For those of you who were unaware, that makes it only 15 weeks away. So break out your body glide and nipple band-aides, it’s time to go for a run!

By why is today opening day? Well many people, and most organized training groups, work with a 16-week training for the 26.2 mile run. So training technically started on Monday, but today is the first group “long-run” for most training groups.

Training Groups? Yes, in many cities and towns there are these strange underground sub-cultures of “Running Groups”. These slim and often mentally deranged people wake up at obscenely early hour to meet up with other “runners” to “run.”

I have been running with Chicago Area Runners Association for about five years now. I have trained with CARA for three half marathons and one of my three marathons. This year I have deiced to pitch in and help lead their training groups. I led a very small pace group for the winter half-marathon training from January to April. There were only three people in my pace group that often braved sub 20 degree weather. Today I started my role as pace group leader for CARA’s much more significant Marathon Training Program.

There were probably 250 people who showed up this morning at 6:30 to run with CARA. They are all divided into pace groups by whatever pace they can hold for their training runs. Then, within each pace time, they are further divided into groups by how hard they want to train (which correlates to how far they will run each week). All the people that choose to run 8 minute, 30 second per mile pace, and wanted to run the intermediate distance, were stuck with me as their leader. While people will shift between groups, there were about 30 people following me around this morning.

So happy opening day. If you are training for a fall marathon, check back here for tips on running and endurance sporting. If you are stuck in my group, think about trying to run a faster pace (only kidding).

Today’s Run:
They opened up the season with a pretty tame 6 miler. Some in the group decided to spread it out to 8, but I stuck with the program to get to know the group.

6.1 Miles, 50:43, 8:18 min/mile

Six more weeks of winter it will be!

Damn you Punxsutawney Phil. (When I posted this, the wind chill was 6)

For those of you who missed the Seer of Seers, the Prognosticator of all Prognosticators' February 2 weather forecast, the stupid rodent saw his shadow and cursed us with six more weeks of winter. Of course you already knew that because it is colder than a "polar bear's testicle" (What's Next Girl thought that would be witty).

I also heard on the radio last night that of the 90 days of winter, it has snowed 58 of them in Chicago, which is 60% more than usual. Next year, Punxsutawney's famous vermin sees his shadow, someone shoot it.

The good news is, that if Phil saw his shadow on Feb 2, and then only cursed 6 more weeks of winter, that only leaves one left right?

Still, if anyone sees Phil, give him the bird for me.

Yes, it was a cold and very windy run this morning, and I am still not over it. I am currently leading one of the Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA)'s pace groups for a half marathon training. I have done these CARA groups before for both marathons and halfs, and I thought it would be fun to lead one. The official race we are training for is Nashville's Country Music Half Marathon, but I am going to participate in the Drake Relays On the Roads instead (so I get to see the family and godson in Des Moines).

Today's Cold Run: So this week was a step back week in the training. The long run was only supposed to be 5 miles, but the gatorade stop was a little further than 2.5 miles (set up for the marathon trainers), so we ran 5.7ish. It was about 20 degrees when I left the house, with a strong wind from the NNW. For whatever reason, that didn't register with me until we turned around for the out and back route at Castaways at North Ave. Apparently the tailwind we were enjoying on the way South was stronger than we knew. Made the way back feel like a tempo run. Not particularly fun.

Today's Training Log:

Running:

5.77 Miles, 49:15, 8:32 min/mile pace

Biking:

Going to bike an hour on a trainer at On the Route. (Update: they took down their cool indoor training area, so no biking for me today!)